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The most senior Catholic in the British Government, Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith, has confirmed that he will be supporting Prime Minister David Cameron’s pledge to introduce equal civil marriage for gay and lesbian couples. In what appears to be an apparent remarkable evolution of his own personal approach to LGBT rights, he pointed out that in a country where so many heterosexual couples are breaking up, marriage equality is a positive method of creating a more stable society.

In an interview with The Times today, Mr Duncan Smith confirmed that he would vote for the legislation in the House of Commons explaining: “I’m for things that are about stability. I think our biggest problem is actually with cohabiting parents breaking up at the rate they do — heterosexual cohabitees, not gay couples — because they’re the ones leaving the trail of devastation afterwards.”

Mr Duncan Smith told The Times, a newspaper that has been cheer-leading support of equal marriage in the press, that he hoped that the Government will introduce a bill to end the ban on gay marriage as soon as possible.

It is unclear if Mr Duncan Smith has been placed under pressure to support the measure.

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